Protests planned for 270 cities across the country kicked off Tuesday morning, with fast food employees joining other low-wage workers and supporters in striking and rallying for a $15 an hour wage, and the right to join a union. In Detroit, the Free Press reported that “about 200 workers” had participated in an early morning protest at a McDonald’s, and thousands are expected for an afternoon rally.
Bernie Sanders spoke in support of the striking workers at the U.S. Capitol, saying:
What you are doing, and workers all over the United States are doing—you are having a profound impact. You are seeing in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, people raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. And you know who did that? You know who started it? You did. You started that movement. So you should be very proud of what you’ve accomplished. Now we’ve got to finish the job: 15 bucks and a union.
Hillary Clinton tweeted a similar sentiment:
Though the actions, focusing on an industry as a whole rather than an individual workplace, have a different focus than closing down restaurants, it does happen:
A McDonald's on Stanwix Street in Pittsburgh was shuttered this morning, a sign on the door reading: "CLOSED due to STRIKE."
In contrast to their nine previous walkouts, the workers are putting an emphatic political stamp on Tuesday's activity. They'll parade to local city halls in the late afternoon and the daylong offensive is expected to culminate with a protest by several thousand workers at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee Tuesday night.
While the Republican candidates are hostile to increasing the minimum wage—and, in some cases, don’t even think the minimum wage should exist—the Democratic candidates support raising it. They have different targets, though: Sanders and Martin O’Malley support the $15 minimum workers are organizing for, while Clinton has come out in favor of a $12 minimum wage. There are good reasons to support the full $15.